For anyone with an interest in the history of clothing, dress, textiles, lace and embroidery, paricularly of the early modern period, 1550-1750

Sunday, 9 November 2014

Hollar's Autumn

Figure 1 - P608

Having done blog posts on Hollar’s Winter and Spring, but
not done one on his summer, now that the weather is changing I thought it a
good idea to look at his Autumn. There are three Hollar Autumn figures (Pennington, 2002), his full length
Autumn of 1644 – P608 (Figure 1), and his two half lengths of 1641 - P612 and
P616 (Figures 2 and 3). The P numbers are the numbers given by Pennington to
Hollar’s works.

However much of what they wear is the same style as appears
in the Winter and Spring clothing; the laced bodices coming down to a distinct
point, the double neckerchief, and the soft hoods. Both the three quarter
lengths have the “double” sleeve, that is a full length sleeve with a half
length sleeve over it. Randle Holme’s(1688) comment on sleeves
was that, “there is as much variety of fashion as days of the year.” This is similar
to the style of bodice described and illustrated in Halls (1970) as being in the Museum
of London, and dating to 1645-55 It is in pale blue silk and comes down to a
point at the front, but does not have the double sleeve. A pattern for it
appears in Waugh.(1968)Another surviving bodice of this period which
does have the double sleeve also has a pattern in Waugh. This is a black velvet
bodice in the Victoria and Albert Museum, unfortunately there is no image on
the museum website.

Figure 2 - P612

I admit to being a little confused by the apron of the full
length figure, she appears to have a bodice with a short peplum or skirt, you
can see by the change in direction of the shading lines between the sleeve and
the apron. Her apron is worn over this, but appears to follow the line of the
stomacher. I don’t think it is worn under it. It is difficult to work out what
is happening.

Both the full length out of doors and the three quarter
length P616 wear gloves, you can see the wrinkles in the leather. These are
long gloves, reaching up as far as the elbow in some cases, and usually
relatively undecorated, as in this 41 cm long example
from the late 17th century in the collection of the Glovers’
Company. Gloves were bought in vast quantities by the upper classes, over the
course of one year the Marquis of Hertford’s family order 150 pairs of gloves,
and these were for use, not associated with marriages or funerals where gloves
might be given as gifts. (Morgan, 1945)

Figure 3 - P616

One thing that is interesting is that the full length wears
a rectangle of fabric shawl like around her shoulders and tied at the front. This
would not have been called a shawl as the word was not in use at this time. The
earliest use of the word shawl in English is, according to the OED, in 1662
where Davies translating Adam
Olearius’s voyages to Persia speaks of “another rich Skarf which they
call Schal, made of a very fine stuff, brought by the Indians into Persia.” The
word is originally Persian, and not used in English usage until the eighteenth
century. The word scarf would more likely have been used at the time, except
that it was used almost exclusively for men; scarves were at this time military
or ecclesiastical. This is not the only
example of a rectangle of fabric being worn around the shoulders, presumably
for warmth. Another Hollar illustration P1887
shows a very similar figure. As you get later in the century Laroon depicts
several poor street traders wearing similar, as in his hot
baked wardens, or his London
Gazette.